Five scams and the check that stops each
| Scam | How it works | What the official source says | The check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Door-to-door, often after a storm | A crew knocks, says it is in the area or has leftover materials, and offers a deal today | FTC: scammers "knock on your door looking for business"; Texas AG: scams "flourish in the wake of disasters" | Look the firm up yourself; check it has permits in your city from before the storm |
| Deposit and disappear | A large deposit or full payment up front, then little or no work | FTC: scammers "ask you to pay for everything up front or only accept cash"; NY AG: "Never pay the full price up front" | California caps the deposit at $1,000 or 10%, whichever is less (CSLB); pay by check or card on a schedule |
| Unlicensed contractor | No license, a borrowed number, or one that has lapsed | Nevada's recovery fund covers only work by "properly licensed residential contractors" | Search the number on the state board the day you sign and the day work starts |
| No permit | The contractor asks you to pull the permit, or skips it | FTC: scammers "ask you to get any required building permits" | Ask for the permit number before work starts and search it on the city portal |
| Unpaid subcontractors and suppliers | You pay the contractor; it does not pay the lumber yard or the plumber, who then lien your house | CSLB: a joint check to the contractor and supplier is "the simplest way to prevent liens" | Ask for lien releases with each payment |
Sources as listed under the table's columns, read 20 to 23 October 2026. The Cooling-Off Rule gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel many sales made at your home, and the seller owes you two copies of a cancellation form; repairs you invited and emergencies are not covered (FTC, September 2025).
Three scams the record can catch
The storm chaser who is new in town. Storm work bunches into a few months. Minneapolis roofing permits peak in October at 243% of an average month and drop to 16% in January; in Cape Coral they peak in January. A roofer knocking in that peak with no permits in your city before it is one to look up twice. Our Minneapolis roofing list shows each firm's permit count and finished share.
The license that is no longer active. In Saint Paul 129 of 1,301 roofing firms with permits now hold an expired, suspended, revoked or terminated license, and in Minneapolis 171. A contractor can show you a real license number that no longer lets it work. The status line on the state board is the answer; our license suspended guide says what each status means.
The permit that was never pulled, or never closed. Search your address on the city portal after work starts. No permit for work that needs one is the scam in the table above. A permit that never reaches a final is a smaller warning: in Seattle 2 of the 286 electrical firms with 10 or more permits closed fewer than 70% of them. Our did my contractor pull a permit guide has the official search for each city.
See every Minneapolis roofer by license status and permit history →
Avoid a contractor scam in five minutes
- Do not hire from the doorstep. Take the card and look the firm up yourself.
- Search the license number on the state board (how to verify a contractor links 24 states' lookups) and read the status.
- Search the firm on this site for your city and trade: how many permits, since when, and how many reached a final.
- Ask who pulls the permit. The answer should be "we do".
- Read the contract for the items in our what a contractor contract should include guide: license number, dates, payment schedule, no blank spaces.
If it already happened
- Write it down. Dates, what was promised, what you paid and how, photos of the work.
- Ask in writing. A dated letter or email asking the contractor to finish or refund by a date. Keep a copy.
- File with the license board. Boards can discipline a licensed contractor, and many hold a bond or fund you can claim against. Nevada's Residential Recovery Fund pays up to $40,000 a claim for owners of single-family homes they live in, filed within four years of the work; it pays nothing if "the claimant obtained any building permit for the project" (Nevada State Contractors Board, read 23 October 2026). Our bonded vs insured guide has bond amounts by state.
- Report it. Your state attorney general's consumer office, and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
- Check your payment method. A card payment can be disputed with the issuer; cash cannot.
If the contractor started and walked off, our contractor didn't finish the job guide covers the next steps, including getting the open permit closed.
What the record cannot catch
A charming contractor with an active license, a permit and a final can still overcharge or do poor work the inspector does not look at. The record says nothing about cash jobs done without a permit. License matches here are by number or name, and a firm we could not match is not unlicensed, only unmatched. Our data refreshes about monthly; the board and portal searches are live.
How we know this
The national report count is from the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, category "Home Improvement, Repair, and Solar". Scam descriptions are quoted from the FTC, the California, Texas and New York Attorneys General, CSLB and the Nevada State Contractors Board, read 20 to 23 October 2026. Seasonality is each city's roofing permits by month against an average month (100); license status is the matched state license record; the under-70% count uses firms with 10 or more permits a year or more old.
Numbers come from City of Cape Coral building permits (the city's open permit table starts January 2025); City of Minneapolis construction permits (CCS); City of Saint Paul building and trade permits (the City's old approved-permits file up to June 2025, and the City's PAULIE permit system since September 2025), with the contractor named on each permit; City of Seattle (SDCI) building, trade and electrical permits on single-family and duplex homes (the city's open-data exports); City of Miami building permits (since 2014), data through October 17, 2026. Nobody paid to be on this page and nobody can.
Questions
- What is contractor fraud?
Taking a homeowner's money for work that is never done, done far below what was promised, or done without the license or permit the law requires. The FTC's 2024 Data Book counted 81,925 consumer reports in its home improvement, repair and solar category, its 16th largest.
- How do I avoid falling victim to a home contractor scam?
Find the contractor yourself instead of taking the one at the door, look the license up on the state board, have the contractor pull the permit in its own name, sign a written contract with no blanks, and keep the deposit small: California caps it at $1,000 or 10% of the price, whichever is less. Pay by check or card, never all up front.
- What should I do if a contractor scammed me?
Write down dates and payments, send the contractor a dated letter asking for the work or a refund, then file with your state contractor board, your state attorney general and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If the contractor was licensed, ask the board about its bond or recovery fund; Nevada's fund pays up to $40,000 a claim.
- Can I get my money back from a contractor who took a deposit and disappeared?
Sometimes. A licensed contractor's bond, a state recovery fund, small claims court or a card chargeback are the usual routes. Nevada's Residential Recovery Fund pays up to $40,000 a claim, but only on work by a properly licensed contractor and not if you pulled the permit yourself. An unlicensed contractor leaves you only the courts.
- Are storm-chaser roofers a scam?
Not all, but post-storm door knocking is where the FTC and the Texas Attorney General say scams cluster. Check the license, and check that the firm has permits in your city before the storm. In Minneapolis, roofing permits peak in October at 243% of an average month.
Build your own list
Every firm with that kind of permit on record. Pick what you value. The list moves.
Related guides
- Permit vs no permit: what happens if you build or remodel without one, what it costs, and how to get a permit after
- What's a good completion rate for a contractor? The benchmarks from 12 trades and cities
- Does a contractor need a license? By trade, in 10 states
- Contractor license lookup by state: the official search in 24 states, and where there is none
- Roofer didn't finish the job? What to do, and what the roofing permit shows
- Saint Paul Truth-in-Sale of Housing: a disclosure report, one required fix, and when you need an electrician
For one city
- Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 — FTC (March 2025; accessed 2026-10-23)
- How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam — FTC Consumer Advice (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Buyer's Remorse: The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule May Help — FTC Consumer Advice (September 2025; accessed 2026-10-20)
- Contractors — California Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
- How to Avoid Home Improvement Scams — Texas Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Hiring a home-improvement contractor — New York Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-23)
- Learn About Home Improvement Contracts — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-23)
- How to Prevent a Mechanics Lien — CSLB (accessed 2026-10-21)
- Residential Recovery Fund — Nevada State Contractors Board (accessed 2026-10-23)